1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for re-directing incoming calls. More specifically, the invention relates to re-directing incoming calls to a provider originating switch to support Intelligent Network (IN) services in public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and Internet protocol (IP) domains.
2. Description of Related Art
As use of the Internet has grown, subscribers have become interested in receiving the same telephone services over the Internet that they presently enjoy over the PSTN. This has pushed telecommunication providers to provide services to their subscribers which make telecommunication contact easier and better in the Internet realm.
As telecommunication service providers seek to provide these new services, new techniques are being developed. For example, a commonly-owned patent, assigned to ATandT Corporation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,677, issued on Dec. 5, 1995 to D""Amato et al., which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety, relates to providing real-time call control within a telecommunications network. Real-time call control is provided using a call selection processor which is separate from the switches that relay the call. The call selection processor responds to in-coming calls and uses information carried in the associated signaling messages to determine what application processor, if any, should be involved on the call. This permits selected calls to be differentiated from other calls so as to allow the selected calls to receive special treatment.
In enabling selected calls to be differentiated for special treatment, such features as call waiting have been implemented over the Internet. See, for instance, another commonly-owned patent, assigned to ATandT Corporation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,587 (incorporated herein in its entirety), issued on Sep. 8, 1998 to Norris et al., which relates to alerting a service subscriber whose telephone is connected to the Internet of a waiting call via that Internet connection. A waiting call to a subscriber may be forwarded via the PSTN to a services platform, which in turn establishes a connection to the subscriber using the Internet. The platform then notifies the subscriber of the waiting call via the Internet connection. The platform may then forward the telephone call to the subscriber via the Internet responsive to a subscriber request to do so without interrupting the subscriber""s Internet connection.
Many subscribers of telecommunication service providers want Caller-ID as well. This is especially true in regard to the use of the service over the Internet. An attempt at providing this type of service was made in U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,412, issued on Mar. 2, 1998, to Srinivasan, which relates to providing a telephone service subscriber with Internet information related to a caller attempting to call the subscriber. Identification information relating to a caller attempting to call the subscriber is provided to the called party via the Internet after a caller has attempted to reach the called party.
Thus, Internet enabled IN services such as Internet call waiting, Caller-ID delivery, local number portability, CNAME, etc., have now become commonly available to service subscribers. These are IN services in that the incoming calls receive intelligent routing/treatment. Commonly, telecommunication service providers provide these Internet-enabled intelligent services. Implementing these services often requires access to a telecommunication service provider""s service control point (SCP). This access is provided via a xe2x80x9cdatabase dipxe2x80x9d.
However, when the telecommunication service provider for the subscriber is different than the telecommunication service provider of the caller, who initiated the incoming call that is not a call to an 800 number, providing IN services, e.g., call-waiting, call-forwarding, or caller ID, some degree of access is required to information in the SCP, that is managed by the called party""s telecommunication service provider. Access to such information by other telecommunication service providers is detrimental to the telecommunication service provider because such information is proprietary. Nevertheless, performance of certain IN services require use of that information. Therefore, the telecommunication service provider is faced with a difficult problem of protecting information while having to utilize that information to provide IN services for IP related uses.
The present invention provides a solution to such a problem. By providing a system and method that performs re-routing of an incoming call based on proprietary data within the control of the telecommunication service provider""s equipment without having to provide access by other telecommunication service providers, the subscriber""s telecommunication provider can effectively provide service without risking dissemination of that proprietary data.
In accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, an incoming call that requires IN services, such as call-routing or call-waiting, is re-routed to a service provider originating switch (POS) following receipt of the incoming call at the local exchange carrier (LEC) servicing the called subscriber. For example, if a LEC determines that the destination phone number for the incoming call is busy, the LEC reroutes the incoming call to the POS via a specific exchange number. In aPage: 4 more general sense, the service subscriber""s LEC will implement a termination attempt trigger (TAT). This exchange number includes a real exchange number with dummy digits, meaning that there is not a telephone station with such a number, for the rest of the phone number. The POS recognizes that the exchange and dummy digits indicate a re-routed call coming from a LEC to the POS for rerouting using IN services.
As a result of this recognition, the POS parks the call and interacts with an SCP that performs a query regarding the called party""s service information. This service information is stored in a database that stores information about the telecommunication subscriber""s service information. As a result of that query, the SCP provides information to the POS on how to re-route the incoming call. Thus for systems that provide Internet Caller-ID Delivery Plus Service, such information may include an alternate phone number or alternate phone numbers which may receive the re-routed call. The SCP information may also include the priority of each of those alternative phone numbers.
As a result, the SCP query may not identify an alternative telephone-station to which the incoming call can be completed because, for example, there are no alternative telephone-stations listed in the database or none of the alternative telephone-stations are available to complete the call. In such a case, the SCP may analyze the information in the database to determine whether there is a universal resource locator (URL) where an additional alternative telephone-station or stations may be listed. The SCP then accesses the URL information using a web service control point (WSCP). Such a URL may be updated by the called party at his/her convenience. Such an updatable URL provides the opportunity for the called party to alter his/her information more easily so as to facilitate providing more effective IN services over the IP domain.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in, or are apparent from, the following description of the apparatus/systems and methods according to this invention.